


the fallen roses of outlived minutes

by SmilingCheshire



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Developing Friendships, Dragons, Fae & Fairies, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Not in the traditional sense, Nymphs & Naiads
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 10:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16324238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmilingCheshire/pseuds/SmilingCheshire
Summary: Madara is just turning thirteen when his mother takes him to meet the Red Empress, the daughter of the conquer. The Red Empress's mother is dead and her reign has just begun, the people hope she is different but dragons rarely differ. Madara has to wonder if he'll become a part of her army, like his sister, or will simply grow be another lord under her reign.At the castle, he meets Hashirama and discovers who the Red Empress, Mito, truly is. Each of them have secrets and pasts darker than the last but maybe, if they come together, their future will not be so bleak.





	the fallen roses of outlived minutes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!!! This has been so fun to write and I can't wait to continue it.
> 
> Hahaue - mother  
> Chichiue - father

Hahaue tilts his chin up, wiping away the dirt on his face. Madara groans and tries to push her away. Hahaue had made him bathe until he was cleaner than anytime before and brush his hair until it was silky smooth. He had tried to sneak away and train but Hahaue had caught him before he could do anything besides get himself dirty.

“Why are you doing this?” He asks, she’s never made him do anything like this before.

“You are a son of Uchiha Tajima, the Lord Over Fire,” Hahaue says lightly, like the reason Chichiue is Lord Over Fire isn’t because he had married  _ her _ , “you will meet the Red Empress now that you are thirteen and she will  _ judge _ you.”

Hahaue was still pregnant with Madara when the Gold Empress had taken their kingdom under her grasp, they had lived in terror as she picked and chose which royal families could live and which would die. She had let the Uchiha live, just because she liked to watch them struggle.

Mercifully, the Gold Empress had died years ago and left the kingdom in the hands of her daughter, the newly named Red Empress. The Red Empress lets each lordship rule over their own and barely disturbs them, until a potential heir turns thirteen.

The Red Empress is not like her mother, she’s just a silent ruler above them all. Somehow, that makes Madara all the more terrified of her.

Akiara, Madara’s sister, became a knight in the Red Empress’s army on her thirteenth birthday, just the year before. Chichiue had insisted she become a knight, so she can’t become the next Lord Over Fire.

Knights renounce their families and their titles, dedicating themselves completely to the cause. The Gold Empress has made it so that her soldiers had nothing to lose, making them the most dangerous people on the planet.

Hahaue takes Madara’s hand in her own and smiles wryly, “It’s scary, I know, but I’ll be your side the entire time.” She presses a kiss against Madara’s forehead and smiles at him.

“Thank you,” he whispers as he wraps his arms around her stomach. She chuckles and ruffles his hair.

“Come on, kid,” Hahaue says, prying his arms off her. She takes his hand, dragging him over to his closet. She takes out one of his nicest kimonos, a red one with a wave pattern, and tosses at him. “Put this on.” 

She leaves the room _ ,  _ probably going to change into her own kimono. Madara slips into his kimono and goes to wait into the main room. He waits for Hahaue to come out, smiling at his little brothers.

Hahaue walks out in a blue kimono with light blue flowers, her hair is in a loose plait so her hair doesn’t drag the ground. She smiles at Madara and holds out her hand.

Madara jumps up and takes it as fast as he can. (Hahaue is his favorite person in the world, even if Chichiue says he shouldn’t cling to her so much. Secretly, he doesn’t care what Chichiue says about Hahaue.)

Hahaue leads him out of the house, waving to his brothers as they leave. 

The cobblestone streets of Fire City are narrow, with loose rocks lying about and deep potholes. Hahaue leads him out of the city and onto the bridge to the castle.

Madara tightens his grip on Hahaue’s hand as they walk, making her smile down at him.

The four cities are chained to the castle, each on the edge of destruction. The City Over Fire lives atop a raging volcano that is only tamed because of the Red Empress. The City Over Earth sleeps above a sink hole, larger and deeper than any before it, it will fall if the Red Empress demands it. The City Over Water breathes above the ocean’s deepest depths, living in almost-harmony with beasts that wish to kill them. The City Over Air tests the chains more and more each day, rising higher and higher into the clouds, suffocating its own people as it goes.

The castle is taller than mountains, greater than the gods, and beautiful like the Hyuuga. It’s old stone, worn and ivy covered despite being newly constructed - they say dragons have that effect on land. Madara never thought it was true. 

The door is taller than any he’s ever seen before but Hahaue pushes it open with confidence. She strides into the castle with confidence and Madara has no choice but to follow.

The Red Empress isn’t what Madara was expecting. She’s only a year or two older than him, at most, her eyes aren’t red like the stories say, they’re green-grey, and  _ she’s bound to her throne with golden chains _ . Her red-blood hair pools in her lap, not quite hiding the golden chain crossing her torso.

“Who are you?” She asks, her voice is soft and lilting but it carries across the throne room. Her dress is silver blue, like moonlight and ocean waves.

Hahaue steps forward, “Your majesty, I am Uchiha Katsumi, Lady Over Fire, and my son, Madara.” She lets go of Madara’s hand and curtseys deeply, keeping her eyes on the Red Empress. 

(“Never take your eyes off the Red Empress,” Hahaue tells him in a serious tone as the walk across the Fire Bridge, “she can kill with just a look, some stories say.”)

“He has reached thirteen,” the Red Empress says, eyes flicking between Madara and Hahaue.

She stands up, long red hair tumbling to the ground and heavy chains clanking as she moves. 

She’s smaller than Madara, despite being older. She walks down the steps to where Madara and Hahaue stand, the heels of her shoes clacking against the marble floor. Her heavy chains move with her, creating the unsettling sound of metal against marble. 

(“They chained her up as soon as they could,” Chichiue had said, as the kingdom celebrated the Gold Empress’s death. “It will be no different for her daughter.”

“Chichiue, why did the chain her up? She’s the empress, she could kill them all,” Madara asks, young and so very naïve.

Chichiue sends him a mocking gaze, “The Uzumaki are not simply strong mages, Madara. Magic sings in their blood, the Uzumaki are the daughters of dragons. Fire lives and breathes in them, they house demons and monsters in their souls. It’s a miracle they didn’t chain her up the minute her rampage began.” Chichiue pauses and looks up at the sky. “Though, they did use her to conquer the unconquerable, but they didn’t live to see her achieve that.”)

She looks over to Hahaue with a bored gaze, “He will stay here for a week and in that time, I will decide if he becomes apart of my army.”

The Red Empress is silent despite the chains, her movements are fluid and graceful. Madara wonders what it’s like - never being able to be free despite having ultimate power over all. Even when she’s away from her throne, her guards and advisors lock heavy cuffs around her wrists. She must be used to it by now, despite being only fourteen, as her mother was before her. 

He wants to wonder what it's like but he already knows doesn’t he? He will never truly be free while his father still lives, they’re alike in that way. Hahaue used to say, whispering in the night, that the Gold Empress had a silver chain around her daughter’s neck, an extension of her own chains and that the girl will only be freed with her mother’s death. Hahaue must not have known then, that the people fear them both equally and will always have them chained like monsters.

Chichiue did call the Gold Empress the daughter of dragons, with fire in her veins and curses on her lips. He said that her daughter would be no different but as he views the Red Empress, with sad eyes and fake smiles, he wonders if Chichiue is right.

Sometimes, her smiles are real. They only make her more terrifying - her genuine smiles show off her long, thick fangs. Her teeth are  _ sharp _ , sharper than any humans, and it reminds Madara that she truly is the daughter of dragons, despite her appearance. Were it not for the small, curling horns that peek out from her hair, he could perhaps forget what she is all together.

He doesn’t know how long he is supposed to stay in the Empress’ palace. Akiara had stayed for mere days but he’d heard tales that other children had to stay for weeks - months. 

His room is big - bigger than the room he shares with his brothers at his home. He may live in a lord’s home but most rooms are cleared, empty, they only use the rooms they need. 

He has a window seat facing his home, he likes to sit there and wonder what his family are doing. Chichiue is probably holed up in his study and Hahaue is probably tending to the swords, carefully polishing each of them with his brothers at her side.

He’s gazing out the window, not really looking instead he’s lost in his own head. It’s when he’s not paying attention that  _ he  _ comes. It’s their first meeting, the first of a decades old friendship.

The boy on the other side of the window is held aloft by water from the ocean so far below. His eyes are glowing a soft green-blue and his hair is floating above his head like a demon. There’s a smile spread across his cheeks, showing off slightly pointed teeth. ( _ Naiad or nymph _ , his mind whispers, because who else could have that kind of power over water?) 

The boy holds out his hand and knocks against the window once, twice, thrice. It’s all he can do to unlatch the window and scramble back, letting the boy fall. He boy hits the ground with a wet  _ thud _ and laughs. It’s not the laugh of a crazy person like he thought it might, it’s just one of a boy his age. “That was  _ fun _ !” The boy exclaims, the glow in his eyes fading to reveal soft brown eyes.

Madara scrunches up his nose, “You got my window seat wet.” It’s all he can think to say, that simple observation and yet it makes the boy laugh again.

“You’re weird,” he says as he gets to his feet, “I like you!”

“Well,  _ I _ don’t like you,” Madara says and he tilts his head up like Chichiue. He’s trying to be intimidating but it just makes the boy laugh again.

“I’m Hashirama! What’s your name?” He asks, holding out his hand.

Madara takes his hand skeptically, “I’m Madara…”

Before they can continue to speak, there is a knock at the door. Madara opens the door to see a young girl knocking at the door.

“Her majesty, the Red Empress, requests both of your presence,” she says the words automatically, looking at them with a blank stare. “Follow me please.”

They follow the girl down to the throne room where the Red Empress sits upon her throne. Her long red hair is brushed back, letting her full face see the light. On her neck are silver scales, disappearing under her dress. Her ears, long and pointed, twitched as they enter and her newly red ringed gaze follows them as they approach the throne.

She stands, heavy chains secured around both her torso and her wrists, and bares her teeth. Her longest fangs just brush her lips, slowly getting smaller as they reach the center. “So you’ve met.” She's angry, it’s easy to see. Her hands are folded together and they can easily see her carefully clipped talons. She looks like a caged hawk, desperate to escape and feral. It’s sad to see the daughter of dragons chained and perhaps, that’s why they do it, to have a sense of power over the most powerful woman to walk the earth.

She’s a child still, like them, and as she ages, she will only grow more powerful. In her, there are whispers of her mother and like the Gold Empress, someday she will break her chains and become something new entirely. Maybe the Red Empress will do what her mother could not and become truly free.

The Red Empress steps down one of the stairs that lead up to her throne, her gaze still on them. Behind her, a fox steps out from behind her throne, it’s lips pulled back in some twisted attempt to smile. It circles the Red Empress’s legs, it’s almost an act of affection but you can see the clear hate for the Red Empress on the fox’s face.

She hums and ignores the fox, “I will be showing you something.” She picks up the fox, ignoring it gnashing it’s teeth at her and walking down the stairs. She gestures for them to follow her and then walks down a hallway where no torches light the way.

She glances back at them, a smile creeping up her face. The lights from the throne room fade, leaving only two sets of glowing eyes - one set green-grey and the other red. The Empress turns her head away from them, facing forward, but the fox - it keeps its eyes on them. 

“Did you know,” she says softly, just loud enough to be heard, “that my ancestors eat people? They would lure humans, nymphs, naiads, and even god-children away from their families and picked their bones clean. The tradition has fallen out of practice but my mother - well, sometimes she would indulge.”

“You aren’t meant to even touch a god-child, how could your ancestors eat them?” 

The Empress hums, “Even gods have their price, their children are little more than pawns.” She stops, letting the fox jump out of her arms. “We’re here.”

She pushes open a tall door, letting light spill into the hall. The fox goes in first and she follows, not waiting for Hashirama and Madara to follow. They share a look for barely a second before they follow her in.

The walls and floor are white marble and in the center of the room is a slab of solid gold. The Gold Empress lays on top of the slab, encased entirely in the gold. Each detail of the woman is clear - from the wrinkles in her dress to each individual eyelash. She looks peaceful in death, despite never knowing peace in life.

The Red Empress kneels at the side of her mother’s tomb, her fox companion by her side. She tilts her head downward, to pay respects, maybe. 

Hashirama’s the one that moves first, kneeling behind her in a show of solidarity and respect. Madara follows him soon after.

“Do you know my name?” The Red Empress asks. It’s an inane question - they aren’t  _ allowed _ to know her name, only other dragon-children are allowed to know her name. She takes their silence as answer enough and says, “My name is Mito. I’d like at least you two to know it. My mother died nameless, even I don’t know her true name. I will not be the same.”

“Why us?” Madara asks, “why tell us your name?”

Mito shrugs, turning slightly to see them. “It seemed right.”

Hashirama perks up at that, “Would you like it if we told you secrets in return?”

Mito smiles slightly, “Like a trade.” 

Madara tilts his head, “The Hyuuga say nothing is as valuable as names and despite their twisted ways, there is truth in those words. What could we tell you that could measure to the value of a name?”

“Tell me a secret, something you’ve never told anyone else, and I’ll will take it as payment for letting you learn my name.” She rests her hand on the fox’s head, it’s laying against the cold marble, asleep.

There are few secrets he hasn’t shared with his brother - he’s not sure what she could want. Before he can speak, his new friend begins, “My father told you my brother is dead. He’s not. He let Father believe he was dead to complete a quest his mother laid before him - he’s journeying to find Death and her sons.”

“Rebirth and Rot…” she mutters, her grin melting away. It’s almost taboo to speak of Death, the traitorous queen who destroyed the first living thing, but her son, Rebirth, is celebrated as the only god left alive. Her other son, Rot, is spoken of less than Death herself - his marks upon the world will never be forgotten but he most certainly will. Rot, the true son of Death, is a curse upon the world, just as his mother was. “Your brother risks much searching for Death and Rot, why not simply look for Rebirth alone?”

He looks down, “My brother, he used to say “Water is death and rot, fire is rebirth.” I never understood it until he told of me of his quest, he has to be the one who finds Death and Rot and a companion will find Rebirth. I’m not sure I understand it entirely yet but the quest is enough to destroy his life and I have to believe its worth it in some twisted way.” Still, he’s holding back but Madara doesn’t ask and neither does Mito.

“Your brother searches for someone forgotten in time, someone loved, and someone hated but still, I wish him the best.” Mito brushes her hair back out of her face, smile returning.

“There are few secrets I haven’t shared, but there is one,” Madara speaks softly, uncharacteristically, “but there is one.”

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “There’s a trait in my family, it’s called the Sharingan. It predicts movements and copy’s magic, my father calls it our blessing but my mother calls it our curse. It deteriorates our sight, everything is becoming blurrier with each use. I can’t complain, otherwise my father will put pressure on my brother, Izuna. I don’t know when my sight will fully fade.”

“A secret kept for a noble reason. Nothing that was said within these walls will leave this room, tombs are meant to be sealed after all.” Mito smiles, savage and harsh.

Madara and Hashirama can’t help but smile back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hashirama and Tobirama are half brothers in this and it will be explained more in future chapters. 
> 
> Death is Kaguya, Rebirth is Hagoromo, and Rot is Hamura. Their roles will be explored more in Tobirama's part of the story.


End file.
